A SaaS client of mine recently pointed me to a change in the Google Apps Service Level Agreement (SLA).  Google changed the definition of “Downtime Period” in their SLA to exclude the first 10 minutes of any time the SaaS tool is unavailable.   Thus, if the tool is unavailable for less than 10 minutes, that is excluded from any of the administrative headaches or credits to be issued for downtime.

Here is the full Google Apps SLA (notice the definition for "Downtime Period"):





Also, notice that Google Apps offers an interesting credit if downtime periods go above the guaranteed minimums - essentially adding days on the end of the service term.  Also, the burden of notice of downtime is on the user in order for credit days to be granted.

It is a good idea for any SaaS business to revisit their SLA terms on a regular basis – reconsidering terms based on trends in markets and what is reasonable and appropriate for the particular industry served.

Much of my business law practice is spent in SaaS law and entrepreneurial law fields.  Although I am often referred to as a technology lawyer, I consider myself a more general business law attorney with a focus in areas of technology such as SaaS.  In this role I have helped several SaaS and software licensing businesses construct their SLAs and determine what is appropriate for their industry.